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15 September 2016

Denmark to Ratify Hong Kong Convention

The Danish Minister for the Environment and Food has
taken the first steps towards implementing rules for the safe recycling of
vessels through the ratification of the Hong Kong Convention for the Safe and
Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009.

Denmark now expects to ratify the Convention in the
spring of 2017.

Worldwide, approximately 1,000 merchant vessels are
being scrapped every year. The vast majority of vessels are sent to Asia to be
dismantled, and welfare and environmental conditions in countries such as India
and Bangladesh have come under focus as may not be comparable in standard to
those expected in Europe.

The Minister, Esben Lunde Larsen, says: “It can be
overwhelming to see the conditions under which vessels are scrapped at the shipyards
in Asia. Therefore, it has been a major priority to adapt the Danish rules so
we can ratify the Hong Kong Convention, which helps to establish global
standards for safe ship recycling. It should send a strong signal to other
countries - the more countries ratify the convention, the faster the Convention
will enter into force.”

According to the Danish Shipowners’ Association, ten
Danish operated vessels are in average being recycled every year. A small part
is recycled in Denmark, and the rest is recycled mainly at shipyards in India,
China and Turkey.

Parts of the Convention have already been adopted in
the E.U. with the Ship Recycling Regulation, and with Denmark's ratification
the possibility of more countries doing the same increases.

“It is very positive that the Minister now ensures
that Denmark will ratify the Convention,” says Anne H. Steffensen, Director
General and CEO of the Danish Shipowners’ Association. “Up to 70 percent of the
world's ship recycling takes place in third world countries, so global rules
are essential to ensure that recycling is done in a responsible manner. We must
therefore push for more countries to follow suit so that the Convention can
finally enter into force. Until that happens, we encourage all our shipping companies
to meet the future requirements voluntarily.”

For the Convention to enter into force, it requires
that it must be ratified by at least 15 countries whose combined merchant fleet
represents at least 40 percent of the global merchant fleet’s gross tonnage.
Both major flag states and the major ship recycling states must ratify in order
to meet the requirements of the convention.

To date, only Norway, Congo, France and Belgium have
ratified the Convention.

In 2015, 768 vessels were globally sold for
recycling. 469 of these (equivalent to approximately 60 percent) were recycled
on a beach in Bangladesh, India or Pakistan (Source: Shipbreaking Platform
annual report for 2015).